


Squished

by Cameron_McKell



Series: Adrift and Related Works [1]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: First Meetings, Gen, Major Character Injury, Mild Blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-28
Updated: 2014-10-28
Packaged: 2018-02-22 23:02:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,045
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2524934
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cameron_McKell/pseuds/Cameron_McKell
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The rocky start of a beautiful friendship.</p>
<p>He should have seen it coming.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Squished

**Author's Note:**

> Written for 'Unmasked Monday' for Birdflash Week(s) on Tumblr.

Dick – or rather, _Robin_ – learned the identity of Kid Flash the first time they met.

 

It sounded like the perfect beginning to a friendship that would shape both of their lives.

 

It would have been, too, if it wasn't for all of the blood.

 

* * *

 

 

There was a new drug on the streets of Gotham. That in itself sadly wasn't unusual, but this case was special, in that one notable side effect was lethal superspeed.

 

The Dynamic Duo had attempted – and seemingly succeeded a couple of times – to catch one of the users in order to trace the origin of the drug, but every time the addict's heart had given out before they could even pull out a pair of handcuffs.

 

They needed speed on their side. They needed the Flash.

 

When they rendezvoused with Flash, though, he'd had a smaller, sunny counterpart in tow.

 

Kid Flash stood out like a beacon in Gotham, but they'd needed all the help they could get.

 

After a few initial hiccups – Flash had been happy to let the younger Batman take the lead on the investigation, but quickly grew protective when Batman tried to yell at/scold Kid Flash – they all managed to work together and catch the crime lord responsible for the outbreak. In the case of Robin and Kid Flash, they'd even worked  _well_ .

 

The two younger sidekicks had been tasked with rounding up the last of the victims of the drug – now known as Velocity 9 – while their mentors 'ran off to have their boss battle', as Robin put it. This, of course, led to a discussion about their individual tastes in video games that lasted well through their final group of the night and into their return trip, Kid Flash running apace with Robin's motorcycle.

 

Then suddenly, Kid Flash yelped in surprised pain and fell, tumbling over the asphalt for a good fifty feet.

 

Robin immediately skidded his motorcycle to a stop and ran for the still body of the slightly older boy. Kid Flash's uniform was streaked with dirt, frayed over almost every surface, but surprisingly free of rips or tears.

 

Hopeful that this meant Kid Flash was more dazed than actually harmed, Robin carefully rolled him onto his back.

 

Kid Flash's face was  _covered_ in blood.

 

* * *

 

 

Wally's face hurt.

 

“–n't know what happened, but he's bleeding. From the face, yeah. Hurry.”

 

There was a pause, then a stinging pain broke through the general ache of his face, and his nose picked up the distinct smell of chemicals. Mostly ethanol, but there was something else –

 

“Alkyl? Yeah, alkyl... dimethyl benzyl... ammonium chloride,” he decided out loud, mumbling quietly.

 

The stinging on his face stopped. “Uh, what?” the voice from before asked.

 

He tried to wave the question away, but ended up smacking his hand into someone. “Nevermind.”

 

“Just hold still,” the voice replied, and it sounded vaguely familiar, so he tried opening his eyes.

 

It worked. Mostly.

 

Through his left eye, he could see Robin – so  _that's_ whose voice it was – carefully dabbing at his face with a once-white wipe, now liberally streaked with red. He reached over, and Wally's cowl had to be off because he felt the sting of the wipe over his right temple.

 

He couldn't see it, though.

 

He couldn't see  _anything_ out of his right eye.

 

“Can't see...!” he whispered in horror, fixing the only person he could see – Robin – with his good eye.

 

Robin froze for a moment that felt like a lifetime – and now that he was aware of it, Wally's right eye felt like it was  _on fire –_ then he squeezed his left shoulder, so it could be seen. “Just stay calm, KF; Flash is on his way.”

 

“KF?” Wally wondered, as the sound of a tornado rushed toward them. “But my name's –”

 

“Wally!” And suddenly Flash was there, talking a mile a minute – grateful, to Robin; worried, to him – then he was being scooped up against a red chest, and flying away toward home.

 

The last time Wally saw Robin for a long time, he was standing at the side of a dirty street, clutching a bloody lump of black and yellow cloth – his cape, maybe; had he been using it as a pillow or something? – looking small and almost scared, for the first time that night.

 

* * *

 

 

The second meeting of Kid Flash and Robin, just under six months later, went  _much_ better.

 

As soon as he'd seen the yellow blur running next to the bigger red blur, Robin started running. Sure enough, when the two stopped running, there was Kid Flash by the Flash's side, good as new and wearing a fancy new pair of red goggles, to boot.

 

“KF, you're all right!” he shouted with a relieved grin, and hugged the slightly taller boy before he could stop himself.

 

Wally blinked for a fraction of a moment, then shrugged and hugged back with his own grin. “Thanks to you, of course!”

 

Flash grinned at the two of them, and lightly elbowed Batman, who stepped out of reach at the last moment.

 

“If you're both finished,” the Dark Knight grumbled, quietly. “We have a job to do.”

 

“Sure thing,” Wally replied, and suddenly Robin was riding piggyback on a speedster for the first time.

 

The air of professionalism somehow managed to last through the end of the mission, barely, but afterward, Robin's curiosity got the better of him.

 

“So what happened, anyway?” he asked, head tucked behind Wally's to cut down on drag and the roar of wind in his own ears.

 

“When?”

 

“Before, with your eye...”

 

“Oh, that.”

 

There was silence as Wally took a corner, and had to vault them over a trashcan.

 

“Well?”

 

“It was a...”

 

“Yes?”

 

“... bug.”

 

Robin stared at the only part of Kid Flash his face was pointed to, which was his red, lightning bolt shaped ear cover.

 

“A bug?!”

 

“Yeah.”

 

“That much blood, for a bug in your eye?”

 

“We  _were_ going well over a hundred miles per hour at the time, dude.”

 

Fair point, Robin supposed.

 

“But a  _bug_ ?”

 

“Why else do you think I've got my fancy new accessory?” He turned his head until Robin could  _just_ see the strap of his goggles.

 

Gradually, he started to snicker.

 

“A  _bug_ .”

 

“ _Ha ha_ , shut up.”

 

“Never.”

 


End file.
